Cable transportation systems are described in Patents EP 0 687 607 B1 and EP 1 088 729 B1, and have proved particularly suitable for passenger transport, and cheaper than other passenger transport systems in given urban applications and for given passenger transport requirements.
In certain known cable transportation systems, each vehicle is drawn by the draw cable along the transportation path on the rails, and, at the passenger station, is released from the draw cable and moved along by deceleration conveyors and acceleration conveyors, which engage both sides of the vehicle at the passenger station.
In these known systems, the deceleration conveyors operate when the vehicle is released from the draw cable, to brake and stop the vehicle in a stop position allowing passengers to board and alight; and the acceleration conveyors operate downstream from the stop position at the station, to accelerate the vehicle from the stop position to a speed substantially equal to the speed of the draw cable, so the coupling device can reconnect the vehicle smoothly to the draw cable.
In these known systems, each vehicle can only be powered electrically at the passenger station, during the relatively short time it remains in the stop position, which therefore greatly restricts electric power supply on the vehicle itself, and the possibility of equipping the vehicle with electrically powered user devices for enhanced passenger comfort.
The same lack of power supply also exists in other types of cable systems, in which the vehicle is connected permanently to the cable, and is stopped at the passenger stations by stopping the draw cable. This type of cable system is normally referred to as a “to-and-fro” system, and the passenger stations are normally, though not necessarily, located at the ends of the path.